Accessing company data - such as up-to-date accounts - currently costs £1 for each file downloaded from the Companies House database. But by June next year, any information accessed through digital channels will be free, although requests made over the phone will continue to incur a fee.

The department for Business, Innovation and Skills said customers spent £8.7m last year accessing company information on the register about more than 3m companies and that removing the charge would make the UK the first country to have an open register of business information.

"By making its data freely available and free of charge, Companies House is making the UK a more transparent, efficient and effective place to do business," said the business secretary, Vince Cable.

Companies House holds 130m documents on its register and is part of the government's public data group which also includes the Land Registry, Met Office and Ordnance Survey. These bodies also announced plans to release more of their data. Land Registry intends to include commercial property in its indices and make it easier to access its publications while the Met Office is working on a system to create a national archive for the nation's memory of the weather.